The League of Conservation Voters new scorecard is out, and as always it demonstrates the good, the bad, and the ugly in Congress when it comes to protecting our environment. The image above shows the latest LCV scores for Virginia’s Congressional delegation. A few thoughts.
1. THANK YOU Jim Moran and Bobby Scott for your 100%, steadfast support of clean water, clean air, and clean energy. You guys rock!
2. Also, nice work overall by Mark Warner and Gerry Connolly, who received 86% and 90% LCV scores, respectively.
3. Given his vote against the crucial, comprehensive clean energy and climate bill, Glenn Nye’s 90% rating from LCV surprises me. I presume he voted correctly on other, less “high-profile,” issues. Still, I really question the weighting scheme here. To me, nobody who voted against Waxman-Markey deserves a 90% rating from LCV.
4. Rick Boucher’s score of 60% is not stellar, but I can understand it coming from a “coal district.” What I can’t understand is how a 60% LCV rating is considered too pro-environment in any district in America, let alone one that has been devastated by the ravages of coal. It’s really sad.
5. Anyone who reads Blue Virginia knows that we have not been happy with Jim Webb’s record on the environment. Now, with his mediocre-at-best 57% rating from LCV, you can see why. Jim Webb is superb in many ways, but when it comes to energy and environmental issues, he simply doesn’t “get it.” At all.
6. Self-professed environmentalist Rob Wittman scores the “best” among Virginia Republicans, with a lame 40% rating from LCV. Still, I wonder if even that will be too much for the teahadists, if Wittman decides to run for U.S. Senate as has been rumored?
7. Frank Wolf, with an utterly PATHETIC 10% LCV rating, deserves his own mention. At this point, anyone in the 10th CD who continues to believe that Wolf is a “moderate” in any way, shape, or form, is either a) honestly ignorant or b) willfully ignorant. It’s not just on environmental issues, either, it’s on EVERYTHING. And no, “liking” Frank Wolf is not sufficient. He needs to be replaced by 10th CD voters at the earliest possible opportunity (2012 would be nice!!!).
8. The rest of Virginia Republicans – Can’tor, Forbes, Goodlatte – are true ZEROES, in every sense of the word. Unless, of course, you like representatives who despise the environment, fight tooth-and-nail for the dirty energy interests, attend Koch brother conferences, are climate science deniers, etc. Truly ugly!
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